Oct 10 2019
Alio Gold Inc. has reported that it has signed lease agreements for the purchase of new loading and hauling equipment at the Florida Canyon Mine (“Florida Canyon”). The fleet contains thirteen 90-ton haul trucks and three matched front-end loaders.
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It has signed a maintenance and services contract that offers assured mechanical availability of the new fleet and covers all needed maintenance actions over the life of the lease agreement.
The lease agreements and related maintenance contract are for a period of about 5 years, based on the actual hours of working, following which the equipment can be bought for about US$2 million.
The current fleet will be withdrawn as the new fleet becomes effective. Florida Canyon is in progress on employing the new fleet with four trucks and one loader presently production-ready. Five extra trucks and one loader are now on-site in different assembly stages, and the rest of the four trucks and one loader are due for dispatch in October.
Acquiring the new loading and haulage fleet removes the primary cause for the underperformance of the mine. With availability now guaranteed, we will be better able to achieve our production objectives.
Mark Backens, President and CEO, Alio Gold Inc.
Backens continued, “Once the fleet is fully operational in November, we expect to see increased ore movement leading to higher gold production and lower cash costs. We look forward to providing the market additional guidance for 2020 once the new equipment is fully operational.”
Moreover, Florida Canyon has obtained all necessary permits to launch the second heap leach pad construction. Contractor mobilization has been started, and an order has been placed for items of long lead-time. It is anticipated that the construction will take about 6 months and will be finished in stages to enable early placement and leaching of ore.
“Receipt of the construction permit for the second phase of the leach pads is a major milestone for Florida Canyon and positions the Company nicely for increased profitable production in 2020,” stated Mr Backens.
Alio Gold also takes pleasure in announcing that Paul Jones has been appointed as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development. In his career spanning 17 years, he has had different roles with an intermediate copper company and was earlier an investment banker with a focus on the mining and metals sector.
Paul is a very welcomed addition the Alio Gold team. Paul brings a wealth of experience in mining, capital markets, M&A and investor relations and will be of great assistance in unlocking the value of our assets to the benefit of all our stakeholders.
Mark Backens, President and CEO, Alio Gold Inc.
Mr Markus Felderer, former VP of Corporate Development, has submitted his resignation. The company thanks him for his service and wishes him well in his future undertakings.
Source: https://www.argonautgold.com/English/home/default.aspx